All Forum Posts by: Lee Ripma

@Jon Licht

Love this! I find both cash flow and cap rates in MF to be total BS. Buy good locations at decent prices - the results take care of themselves! 

@Chinmayi Desai

Kia Ora Chinmayi! Love NZ and my whole immediate family is permeant residents there. Have spent much time tramping and enjoying NZ. The US is a great place to invest in RE. I think your largest hurdle will be lending. Are you a US citizen? Hop on the forums and start learning! 

@William Staton

Or you can take 30 seconds to filter by all the zip codes in the US using VestMap.com's ZipFinder

. I personally select B class areas with growth. I would use the attached zip code map as a guide. You can see the criteria on the left. 

 VestMap.com

@Travis Mullenix

VestMap.com isn't free but it's worth every penny. 

@Jeremy York

Looks like a lot of the area would still be considered rural (under 500 people per square mile) but certainly some growth and demand. 

Low caps cut both ways - high value on the purchase but also high value on the exit. I invest in RE in LA where with buy and hold you'll never get the kind of cash on cash returns you'll get in cash flow markets, but done right your IRR will be much higher. I've done several types of novel fix and flips (completed projects in my BP profile). So I think you can certainly do well paying more for small MF on the west coast with tons of demand and very low supply. I think the hardest thing to navigate is actually tenant's rights and local restrictions so make sure you really understand what you are dealing with on that front before you start. The best risk reward I have personally found is on stabilized value add MF in growing midwest markets. Don't drink the cash flow kool-aid though, you can certainly invest and be successful in high priced markets.

@Jordi Valado

What you are really after is a growing affordable market. Avoid affordable markets that are not growing. You actually don't have as many choices as you might think. Go down this list of 38 markets. Figure out what you asset class will be, which of these markets has a lot of your target asset? Narrow down from there. Texas is brutal on property taxes but also has a lot of growth. I personally invest in LA and Kansas City. You can find the right submarket within any of these markets that will meet your needs and you'll be able to build a team there. 

• Phoenix, AZ
• Tuscan, AZ
• San Antonio, TX
• Austin, TX
• Huston, TX
• Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX
• Oklahoma City, OK
• Tulsa, OK
• Kansas City, MO-KS
• St. Louis, MO
• Indianapolis, IN
• Milwaukee, WI
• Chicago, IL, WI, and IN
• Grand Rapids, MI
• Detroit, MI
• Minneapolis, MN
• Cleveland, OH
• Columbus, OH
• Cincinnati, OH
• Louisville, KY
• Nashville, TN
• Memphis, TN
• Birmingham, AL
• Atlanta, GA
• Charlotte, SC
• Raleigh-Durham, NC
• Virginia Beach, VA
• Richmond, VA
• Baltimore, MA
• Wilmington, NC
• Pittsburgh, PA
• Philadelphia, PA
• Hartford, CT
• Providence, RI

Good luck and go get after it! 

@Emma S Endicott

Cash flow = risk. Why are you getting an 18 cap? To take on a ton of risk. So just understand locations that you are investing in. What you really want is affordable GROWING markets that cashflow not the most cash flow possible. Looks like this is on the border of some growth but keep in mind that Cleveland cash flows well because the population in a lot of places is declining. 

The growth map to give you an idea.